Both things are important: the research you like, and the money you make.
If you were making a substantial amount of money chosing the convenient projects, you might not have had these second thoughts.
Of course, if you are making peanuts anyway, it´s much better to make them helping what you like.
Interestingly, I am the biggest Gridcoin miner short of the pool, currently on 8000 mag. You can go to this page and sort by magnitude to check.
Touché! Another way to reconcile those two sides is earn as much as you can, as a rational investor. And then use your earning to support the projects you like. What I wanted to point out is that there is nothing wrong with profitting. All to the contrary.